Album Review

Isaac Freeman will be best known to most as one of the deeper-than-the-bottom-of-the-well voiced gravediggers near the end of the film O Brother Where Art Thou?. His rich bass is perfectly suited for the collection of bluesy gospel standards and spiritually-minded traditional songs on Beautiful Stars. The album is comprised of ten gospel standards as well as one song written especially for the vocalist by Garrison Keilor entitled "You Must Come In at the Bottom." Backed by the rootsy Bluebloods, Freeman injects a surprising amount of energy into the gravelly tunes, guaranteed to rattle the china in the cabinet.